Biber Sonatas: Be Brave, My Beauty
Sunday, April 28, 2013, 2 pm
Fairview United Methodist Church, 600 W. 6th St., Bloomington, IN 47404
Be Brave, My Beauty: A rare performance of the complete cycle of Heinrich Biber's Mystery Sonatas for violin performed by an extraordinary line up of musicians
One of the most famous women in history is the Virgin Mary, and it is the story of Mary's bravery in the face of adversity that the 17th century composer, Heinrich Biber depicts in his Mystery Sonatas for violin. The set employs a compositional technique called scordatura that requires unusual tunings of the violin strings. These innovative pieces will be performed by a vibrant group of local and visiting musicians, and the event will benefit Middle Way House, a domestic violence victim services program and rape crisis center in Bloomington.
MUSICIANS
Violin soloists
Alice Culin-Ellison . Janelle Davis . Valerie Gordon . Edith Hines . Gesa Kordes . Dana Maiben
Ingrid Matthews . Rachel Barton Pine . Valerie Weber . Julia Wedman
Organ and harpsichord
Maho Sone Grazzini . Byron Schenkman . Janet Scott . Elisabeth Wright
Viola da gamba, violone, cello
Wendy Gillespie . Christine Kyprianides . Erica Rubis . Philip Spray . Shelley Taylor
Lute and theorbo
Lyle Nordstrom . David Walker
TICKETS available online and in person at Buskirk-Chumley Theater Box Office
www.bctboxoffice.com / (812) 323-3020 / 114 East Kirkwood Ave.
$50 - General admission
$15 - Second tier (rear auditorium and rear balcony)
Limited sponsorship opportunities and reserved seating available. Please contact MWH for more information, (812) 333-7404.
ART EXHIBIT: 1:30 - 6 p.m., Aldersgate Hall at Fairview UMC (free)
Along with the concert, an art show of original works inspired by Biber’s music, the person of Mary, and other themes on women will be exhibited and offered for sale by local artists.
LOCATION
Fairview United Methodist Church - 600 W. 6th St., Bloomington, IN 47404 (map)
Concert: 2pm, Main sanctuary
Art exhibit: 1:30 - 6 p.m., Aldersgate Hall (free)
The proceeds from this event go to Middle Way House, a domestic violence victim services program and rape crisis center.
www.middlewayhouse.org www.music.indiana.edu www.indianapublicmedia.org/radio
Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, violinist Alice Culin-Ellison received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan studying with Aaron Berofsky. Following her interest in early music, she continued her studies and recently graduated with a Master's degree in Early Music from Indiana University, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie. She can be found performing in the Eastern United States with Bourbon Baroque, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Musical Offering, and Generation Harmonique. Alice has also performed internationally in Canada, England, China, and Japan. \ back to top
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Janelle Davis, violin, performs regularly with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Baroque Band and Bourbon Baroque, co-directs the early music chamber group, Generation Harmonique, and freelances with numerous other period instrument orchestras and ensembles across the country. Janelle moved to Bloomington to study at Indiana University with Stanley Ritchie, and is currently completing her doctoral final project. Janelle is also a devoted educator having served in various capacities as a studio teacher, classroom orchestra director, youth music festival clinician, and as a volunteer with Early Music In Motion—a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting schools and communities underserved by the arts. Currently, Janelle also works as a writer, podcast host, and production assistant for WFIU’s syndicated early music radio program, Harmonia. \ back to top |
| A performer of medieval, renaissance, baroque, and contemporary music, Wendy Gillespie teaches early bowed strings, early music performance, and notation. She has performed with ensembles worldwide ranging from the English Concert to Ensemble Sequentia. Gillespie has participated in more than 80 recordings for Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Virgin Classics, BIS, Channel Classics, and other recording companies. As a member of the viol consorts Fretwork and Phantasm, Gillespie has shared two Gramophone awards, several Gramophone and Grammy nominations and "Recordings of the Month," and a French Grand Prix du Disque with her colleagues. Gillespie is much in demand for workshops and seminars in early music performance in the United States and Europe. She is a member of the executive board of the Medieval Studies Institute at Indiana University and president of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. http://info.music.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/885.html \ back to top | |
| Recipient of an Associate Instructorship studying baroque violin with professor Stanley Ritchie, Valerie Gordon is pursuing her Master’s Degree at Indiana University. Recent performances include; Aradia Ensemble, Elixir Baroque Ensemble, Aston Magna, Bourbon Baroque and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. Valerie also teaches at Fairview Elementary School as part of the violin program led by Dr. Brenda Brenner. \ back to top | |
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Maho Sone Grazzini is a versatile harpsichord soloist and continuo accompanist. Originally from Japan, she is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute, where she studies harpsichord with Elisabeth Wright and continuo with Professor Wright and Nigel North. Before coming to Indiana, Maho studied at the San Francisco Conservatory with Corey Jamason. Maho has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in Japan, Europe, and North America. As part of the "Conservatory Project", she gave a chamber music recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and this summer she played the 5th Brandenburg Concerto at the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont and New York. She is a frequent guest accompanist of the San Francisco Bach Choir, with whom she has performed several Bach Cantatas and Motets, as well as the St. John Passion. At Indiana University, she received the 2009 EMI Recital Prize. She is also the mother of an adorable sixteen-month-old, Dario. \ back to top |
| Violinist Edith Hines is active in the early music scene of southern Wisconsin, performing in several Baroque ensembles and participating on the staff and faculty of the Madison Early Music Festival. As a founding member of the Baroque violin and keyboard duo Ensemble SDG, she has performed in the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Concert Series, the University of Notre Dame Guest Organ Recital Series, and the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music. She has also been a guest clinician at Western Michigan University and Grand Valley State University. Edith studied modern violin with David Updegraff, Donald Weilerstein, and David Perry and has had coaching in historical performance from Julie Andrijeski, David Douglass, Robert Mealy, and others. When not performing, she works as an assistant editor at A-R Editions. jsb1685.blogspot.com \ back to top | |
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Gesa Kordes, violinist, performs with numerous chamber ensembles and Baroque Orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Washington Bach Consort, Ensemble Musical Offering, Opera Lafayette, Ensemble Tra i Tempi, and the Rheinisches Barockorchester Bonn, as well as the Indianapolis and Atlanta Baroque Orchestras. She has toured as soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Central America, Europe, and Israel and has recorded for NPR, harmonia mundi, FONO, Dorian, and Naxos. Ms. Kordes received her Baroque violin training from Stanley Ritchie and John Holloway at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute, where she served as lecturer for Baroque violin. In August 2006, she joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as the director of the School of Music’s newly-founded Baroque Ensemble. She joined the faculty of the University of Alabama in 2009 as an Instructor of Early Music Performance. \ back to top |
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Christine Kyprianides has concertized throughout the world as a cellist and gambist with such early music ensembles as Huelgas Ensemble, Musica Antiqua Köln, Collegium Carthusianum, Les Arts Florissants, Ganassi-Consort, Les Adieux, and many others. Her teaching activities have included faculty positions at the Lemmens Institute (University of Louvain, Belgium), the Musikhochschule of Cologne, the Dresden Academy of Early Music, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Christine presently performs in Ensemble Voltaire, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, and Echoing Air; and serves on the boards of several early music organizations in Southern Indiana. She is also active as a musicologist; her research interests include performance practice issues and the relationship of music and the press in Victorian England. www.christinekyprianides.com \ back to top |
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Hailed by the Boston Globe for her “supremely joyous artistry,” Dana Maiben performs on the violin, viola, harpsichord, medieval fiddles, and as a conductor, and is a prize-winning composer. Cited by Continuo Magazine as “high priestess of the Italian 17th century solo,” Dana is artistic director of Concerto Incognito, music director of Foundling Baroque Orchestra and Women’s Advocacy Project, a founding member of the string band Quince, and served as concertmaster for Apollo Ensemble, Arcadia Players, and New York Collegium. Dana studied early music at Oberlin Conservatory and Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and counts Jaap Schroeder, Tom Binkley, James Caldwell, Elaine Richey and Lou Harrison as important mentors. Dana has performed throughout Europe and North America, and has recorded for BMG, Centaur, Dorian, DMH, EMI, Erato, and fuga libera. Since 1989, she has been on the faculty of the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she teaches baroque violin, figured bass, and performance practice courses, coaches chamber music, and directs early opera. \ back to top |
| Ingrid Matthews served as Music Director of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra from 1994 to 2013, and is well established as one of today’s most highly-respected baroque violinists. She has appeared as soloist, guest director or concertmaster with many of today’s leading early music ensembles including the New York Collegium, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Musica Angelica (Los Angeles), New Trinity Baroque (Atlanta), the Bach Sinfonia (Washington DC), Tafelmusik, and many others, and has won high critical acclaim for her extensive discography. Ingrid is on the faculty of the Cornish College of the Arts, and in 2011 and 2012 she was engaged to lead Oberlin College's new baroque orchestra program. Previously she has taught at the University of Toronto, Indiana University, the University of Southern California, and numerous festivals and workshops. Matthews is a graduate of Indiana University, where she studied with Josef Gingold and Stanley Ritchie. www.ingridmatthews.com \ back to top | |
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I have painted and studied art throughout the world, living in 15 different countries in 14 years. It has been inspiring to see the differences in what people are creating in various parts of the world at the same time. What has been the most amazing, however, is seeing the strain of similarity running thorough it—the whole experience has been like looking into the face of the Zeitgeist. Maybe I view the Zeitgeist as a woman, because this is what I most often paint. I paint portraits, and have found that the image of the woman is really a symbol for some greater idea that I am trying to express. Balance, underlying symmetry, and the effect of color and texture are of equal importance in the image. These are portraits, but I hope they effectively evoke a mood that can encompass many different interpretations, in the way of abstract art. To take a blank piece of canvas and -- after much focus and diligence-- create a person looking back at me, is something that amazes me every time. I am a self taught painter, learning as I go. Through this journey to express myself through paint, I have come to recognize and value the gift of artistic creation (and appreciation) that exists within us all. We desire, value, and strive for beauty, and that is the most beautiful thing of all. Undeniably true. \ back to top |
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Lyle Nordstrom has been one of the most influential musicians in early music in the last several decades, particularly on the collegiate level. He has led the early music programs at Oakland University in Michigan, Clayton State College and University in Atlanta and, most recently, the University of North Texas, being nominated for a number of teaching awards at each institution. In 2000 he received the Binkley award by Early Music America for his work on the collegiate level and in 2009 the Paul Riedo Award by Dallas Bach Society for his contributions to early music in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. He is also well known as a founder of The Musicians of Swanne Alley, a group he directed with Paul O’Dette from 1976 to 1996, performing with them at nearly every major early music festival in the US and Europe. In 1997 Lyle also founded the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and is now the Director Emeritus. \ back to top |
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"A most accomplished Baroque violinist, fully the equal of the foremost specialists" (Gramophone), violin soloist Rachel Barton Pine has been involved with historically-informed performances of early music for over two decades. Performing on baroque violin, renaissance violin, viola d'amore and rebec, she has collaborated with leading artists including David Douglass, Elizabeth Wright, Luc Beausejour, Robert Mealy, Marilyn McDonald and Gesa Kordes and has worked with groups including Ars Antigua, the Newberry Consort, Callipygian Players, and Temple of Apollo. She performs with John Mark Rozendaal and David Schrader as the period instrument ensemble Trio Settecento. The group’s four cds: An English Fancy, A French Soirée, An Italian Sojourn, and A German Bouquet, celebrate music from the age of Enlightenment. Pine’s baroque violin performances include the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Marlboro Music, The Frick Collection, and the Boston Early Music Festival. Pine serves on the Board of Directors of Early Music America. www.rachelbartonpine.com \ back to top |
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Erica Rubis (viola da gamba) graduated with a B.A. degree in Music (cello and piano) from St. Olaf College. She then pursued studies on the viol, acquiring the Performer's Certificate at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands and MM in Early Music Performance at Indiana University. Ms. Rubis has performed with Bourbon Baroque, Ensemble Fenix de los Ingenios, Ensemble Lipzodes, Ensemble Musical Offering, Ensemble Voltaire, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and the Lyra Concert. She performs frequently with Julie Elhard (viol) as the duo, Violes Egales. She is currently on the Board of Early Music in Motion, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing early music to rural and underserved populations. She recently pioneered their program, Shakespeare's Ear, which has been touring Indiana libraries and public elementary schools since 2009. \ back to top |
Byron Schenkman has recorded more than thirty CDs of 17th- and 18th-century repertoire, including recordings on historical instruments from the National Music Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He received the Erwin Bodky Award from the Cambridge Society for Early Music "for outstanding achievement in the field of early music." He is a member of the new period instrument ensemble Gut Reaction and appears frequently in recital with violinist Ingrid Matthews, with whom he co-founded the Seattle Baroque Orchestra in 1994. Schenkman is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and received a Master's Degree and Performer's Certificate in harpsichord from Indiana University. He currently teaches at Seattle University and Cornish College of the Arts. In 2012 he also served as guest faculty at the I.U. Jacobs School of Music. www.byronschenkman.com \ back to top |
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Harpsichordist Janet Scott has been active as soloist and continuo player for over twenty-five years. Among her teachers are British scholar and harpsichordist Colin Tilney, and Elisabeth Wright, professor of harpsichord and forte piano at the Early Music Institute, Indiana University, where Janet earned her Masters degree in Harpsichord Performance. In addition to being a recipient of numerous Canadian Arts Grants, she was a founding member of two Baroque ensembles, served as manager of a Baroque orchestra, and was artistic director of the summer music series Music on the Red in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Janet is presently a sound recording cataloger for the William & Gayle Cook Music Library at Indiana University. She is also a church organist, teaches privately, performs regularly with the Fort Wayne Bach Collegium, and freelances with ensembles in the U.S. and Canada. A keen amateur viol player, Janet was editor of the VdGSA News, the Viola da Gamba Society’s quarterly newsletter, from 2010-2012. \ back to top |
| Philip Spray (violone) has been active for years with various period instrument ensembles and choirs across the country. He has recorded with Miami’s Seraphic Fire and with Concordia Publishing in St. Louis. A founding member of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Phil also directs Pills to Purge Melancholy and Musik Ekklesia , an ensemble dedicated to the performance of baroque sacred music. Musik Ekklesia’s first solo recording, The Vanishing Nordic Chorale was released internationally by Sono Luminus. The English magazine Gramophone selected it as a "Gramophone Pick”, describing the recording as enchanting and intriguing. American Record Guide‘s review called the CD absolutely delightful. Vanishing Nordic Chorale was a 2012 Grammy nominee for best classical producer. \ back to top | |
| Shelley Taylor has been a cellist in the Bloomington community for 30+ years. In the 1990’s Shelley co-founded the 5-woman ensemble Bimbetta, whose cutting edge, theatrically engaging, feminine-infused performances of the early baroque, brought women’s issues through the ages to the fore. In addition, she played in the Berkeley, Boston, and Regensburg Early Music Festivals, performed as soloist with the Bloomington Early Music Festival and Seattle Baroque Orchestra and participated in many other early music ensembles, as well as serving on the original BLEMF board. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she also taught baroque cello and assisted young cellists in the string academy. In addition to her love of music, Shelley serves as adjunct yoga faculty in the IU Kinesiology Department, has a wide range of certifications in the healing arts, and offers private sessions through her business, Infusion. Most importantly, Shelley is the proud Mom of her amazing 16 year old daughter. \ back to top | |
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Lutenist and guitarist David Walker has performed extensively throughout the United States earning praise for his “surety of technique and expressive elegance,” (Columbus Dispatch) as well as his “tremendous dexterity and careful control” (Bloomington Herald Times), and “zesty twang” (New York Times). David has appeared with such early music groups as Catacoustic Consort, Chatham Baroque, Clarion Music Society, Early Music New York, the Newberry Consort, Tempesta di Mare, and TENET. He has performed in numerous baroque opera productions, including engagements with the Wolf Trap Opera Company and Glimmerglass Opera. Festival highlights include chamber music at the Savannah Music Festival and the Festival de Musica Credomatic in Costa Rica, and solo recitals for the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the University of Louisville Guitar Festival. David is a member of the chamber ensemble Ostraka, whose 2010 debut release Division has been called “an utter aural and intellectual delight” (Examiner San Francisco). \ back to top |
| Valerie Weber, a Montana native, completed her undergraduate studies in violin at Concordia College (Moorhead) and University of the Pacific. After earning a Master of Music in music theory and a Graduate Certificate in violin performance at University of South Florida (Tampa), Valerie decided to pursue her love of earlier repertoire and instruments in greater depth. This led her to complete a second master’s degree in historical performance at Boston University, where she was a recipient of the Dean’s Scholar Award. She is now working towards a doctorate at IU's Early Music Institute. She has attended the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Killington Music Festival, the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, and the Early Music Vancouver Instrumental Programme. Recently she has performed with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Bourbon Baroque, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and the Aston Magna Music Festival. Her primary Baroque violin studies have been with Jane Starkman and Stanley Ritchie. \ back to top | |
| Violinist Julia Wedman joined the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra www.tafelmusik.org in 2005 and quickly developed a reputation for her solo performances with the group. In addition to being featured regularly on the group's home series in Toronto, she has performed solos on tours throughout Canada, the U.S.A, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. She is also a member of I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble www.ifuriosi.com and the Eybler String Quartet www.eyblerquartet.com. Her debut CD of Biber's Mystery Sonatas has received glowing praise, including a beautiful article in Gramophone Magazine, which said “Rather exceptionally, one suspects, Wedman has approached Biber's music as a true pilgrim, interpreting key moments in the life of Christ thoughtfully, vividly and with evident personal humility and warmth. Her performances exude humanity and have about them a radiance that somehow transcends the sound of her lovely 1694 instrument.” Julia lived in Bloomington in 1997-1998 while she was doing graduate work at IU, studying with Stanley Ritchie and Franco Gulli. \ back to top |
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Harpsichordist and fortepianist Elisabeth Wright is noted for her versatility as soloist and chamber musician, and for her expertise in the art of basso continuo improvisation. Following graduate studies with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam, she has maintained a distinguished career performing in noted venues world-wide. A member of Duo Geminiani with violinist Stanley Ritchie, and Bloomington Baroque, she has also performed and recorded with Música Ficta, and with many artists of international renown. Soloist with Tafelmusik, Lyra, Seattle, Portland and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestras, she has been broadcast on four continents and recorded for numerous labels. Professor at Indiana University, Wright is in frequent demand for master classes and seminars pertaining to performance practices of music from late 16th – 18th century. She is also a contributing author to “The Sense of Marino: Literature Fine Arts and Music of the Italian Baroque,” and translated Max Sobel’s edition of the complete works of Francesco Bonporti. http://info.music.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/900.html \ back to top |
